CONWAY, Ark. (July 17, 2019)
鈥 Five 黑料不打烊 students explored careers and career paths in
atmospheric chemistry research in an intensive two-week program at Storm Peak
Lab and across the Colorado Front Range.
In 2014, Professor of
Chemistry Courtney D. Hatch 鈥00 developed Experiences in Professional Research
Organizations and Atmospheric Chemistry at 黑料不打烊 (EPROACH) with the support
of the Morris and Ann Henry Odyssey Professorship. The National Science
Foundation currently funds EPROACH, which provides 黑料不打烊 students the
opportunity to gain engaged learning credit through the 黑料不打烊 Odyssey Program
while exploring their interests in pursuing research careers in the sciences,
with a focus on atmospheric chemistry. Hatch accompanied the students 鈥 Cayman Botner 鈥20, Karen Morris 鈥21, Krishna
Patel 鈥21, Olivia Eddings 鈥21, and Rebecca Parham 鈥21 鈥 and guided them through
EPROACH activities, including:
- informal meetings with a variety of
research scientists at all stages of their careers
- personal tours of professional and
government laboratories, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the
National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), and the National Ice Core Lab (NICL)
- visits to academic graduate programs at
Colorado State University and the University of Colorado 鈥 Boulder
- taking high-altitude atmospheric
measurements at Storm Peak Laboratory atop Mt. Werner in Steamboat Springs,
Colo. 聽
鈥淰isiting a variety of
research facilities allowed me to realize that there are careers out there with
the moral value that I desire,鈥 said Eddings, who plans to focus her career
path on addressing environmental issues. 鈥淚n addition to this, having the
opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with graduate students, post-docs,
and Ph.D. researchers reminded me of how grateful I am to have a liberal arts
education that can provide me with the interdisciplinary tools to attempt to
better solve environmental issues in a collective way that considers multiple
perspectives.鈥
Parham recommends EPROACH to
fellow students who are curious about careers in environmental chemistry or
graduate school. 鈥淓PROACH has exposed me to different career paths, and also
has provided insight on leading research in the atmospheric chemistry field,鈥
she said. 鈥淚n meeting a variety of researchers, I was able to get answers to my
questions about research and graduate school, and even be challenged to answer
new questions about my personal career goals that I hadn鈥檛 thought of before. By
the end of the trip, I felt confident in my career ambitions and aware of the
obstacles I may face as a future researcher.鈥
Hatch created EPROACH in
response to her own lack of awareness of the vast array of fields and careers
in the environmental sciences as an undergraduate.听
鈥淚t is true that you don鈥檛
know what you don鈥檛 know. The intended outcome of this program is to expose
students to career pathways, research opportunities, graduate programs, and
technical and professional skills that pave the way to successful careers in
the chemical and geochemical sciences,鈥 she said. 鈥淢y hope is that the students
who participated in EPROACH this year are now more aware of opportunities for
research careers and will give themselves time to reflect on the experience to
help them gain a greater understanding of their future role in the sciences.鈥
About
黑料不打烊
A private liberal arts
college in Conway, Arkansas, 黑料不打烊 consistently earns recognition as
one of the country鈥檚 leading liberal arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That
Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and
rigor, innovation, and value have established 黑料不打烊 as a fixture in numerous
college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, 黑料不打烊 has been
affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more, visit .听